Waiting For You
by MKproot
Summary: She hasn't returned his calls all night. Why has she kept him waiting? Has she suffered the same fate as his late wife?


Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds, nor the song I used. The song is called "Waiting For You (Live at Heaven's Night) by Akira Yamaoka from the Silent Hill 4 soundtrack. This is my first Hotch/Prentiss fic, so if it seems a little corny, I apologize. Hope you like it! :D

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"_Your gentle voice I hear/ Your words echo inside me/ You said you long for me/ That you love me,"_

He has memorized the words to the letter she sent him. He can hear her voice whenever he even considers reading just one letter, just one syllable of the letter...

"_And I want to see you too/ Feels just like I'm falling/ Is there nothing I can do/ Wonder if you hear my calling..."_

She said she'd call when the plane landed, which was nearly an hour ago. Why hasn't she called?

He dials her number and gets her voice mail. She's going to open her phone and see three missed calls, all from him.

"_I'm here and waiting for you/ Where are you, I can't find you/ I'm here and waiting for you/ I'll wait forever for you..."_

He slides his phone in his pocket and sits on the couch near the door, staring at it as if begging it to open.

"Daddy?" a little boy's voice suddenly calls out. "Can you tuck me in?"

He smiles as he stands up to see his little boy waiting patiently outside his door. Has he been waiting for her, too?

"Of course, buddy," he replies wearily.

He follows the boy to his bedroom. The boy lies down eagerly as his father tucks the blanket into his sides, making the boy giggle as he is being playfully tickled.

"_Mom's gone to heaven now/ Why won't she come back down/ Does she have someone she loves more than me?"_

Her picture is on the boy's nightstand. It's a picture of the whole family, but the glow of the boy's lamp seems to be focusing on her. It's focused on her shiny blonde hair; her soft, smooth skin; her lively hazel eyes...

But her eyes aren't lively anymore. They haven't been for half a year. The last time he saw her, her eyes were soulless and forever a faded color that could never be restored to life.

"_I thought I could love you better/ We were always together/ If we spent some time apart, you would finally know my heart..."_

Even when they were separated, he loved her. He was hoping that with time she would understand that his love would never cease for her and his son, no matter how much the job got in the way.

But then she left him forever. It wasn't her fault...It was Foyet. He managed to separate the family temporarily, but then he took her away forever...

He remembers the fear that penetrated every pore in his skin when he heard that Foyet had her. He remembers the anger that coursed through his veins when he got his hands on Foyet and punched the living daylights out of him. He remembers the relief that his son didn't have to suffer the same fate as his mother...

"Good night, buddy," he whispers to the boy, who is already asleep. He leaves the boy's room, forcing the painful memories to remain behind as he once again unfolds the letter that was housed in his pocket. As he mentally recites the letter, he walks back to the living room and sits himself on the couch.

He tries calling her again and again gets no answer. He shuts his phone and begins wondering what could have happened to her. Flight could have been delayed. Luggage could have gotten lost. Phone ran out of battery. Phone got misplaced. Dead. Traffic could be really bad. Too tired to come over. Lost interest in him. Car accident. Seeing another man. Raped. Called to work. Helping with an emergency. Tortured. Kidnapped. Dead. In hospital. Robbed. At the store, picking up a few things. Taking a shower. Dead. Being killed. Lying on the road, bleeding to death in a puddle of her own blood...

"_I fell in love with you/ and now you're gone/ There's nothing left to do in my lonely room/ without you..._"

He dials her number frantically, images of every crime scene photo he's ever seen flashing in his mind, each victim replaced with her body. With her silky dark hair, her milky brown eyes, her pale skin glowing in the flash of the CSI's camera...

Ding-dong.

But dark hair would become battered and bloody. Her eyes would become lost in the land of the dead. Her skin would be coated in a layer of crimson red.

He forces himself to stand up to answer the door. He prays to God that it isn't the cops or even one of the team, coming to inform him of her tragic fate...

"_I'm here and waiting for you/ Where are you/ I cannot, I cannot find you/ I'm waiting for you/ where are you, where are you?"_

Hotch opens the door and his face immediately lights up as Emily Prentiss beams back at him with her suitcase in her hand.

"Sorry I didn't call. Phone died," she explains, entering his home. She turns around only to be whisked into his arms, and he suddenly kisses her like it's their first kiss. She kisses back as they stumble onto the couch.

"I love you so much," Hotch says to her as she lies on top of him.

"You're never going to let me go away without you again, are you?" Prenitss replies, smiling. "I love you, too."


End file.
